A Little Talk Poem by RIC BASTASA

while the examination in civil law
was going on
i went out the room tired of my role
as inspector
and there i saw the two of you
talking under a tree
with leaves lush like the curly hair
of a healthy boy

we were talking about irrelevance
priesthood and perhaps marriage

the vagabond images of things
fleeting and fleeing from our grasps
like birds seeking warmer places
in the East as winter approaches

then there was silence
perhaps we were having second thoughts
about the words we let go off our mouths
perhaps we do not believe really what was in our minds

regrets, these feelings that waste us
things-ought-to-be-this and that

silently the hours sat with us
groping for a hold about why
and then the leaves fell because the wind blew
and then we saw the moon
exuding light

upon us the truths had long left
and we find ourselves grappling with the fake delicacy of our lies.

we wanted to understand and be so discriminating
we ought to be and yet we never did
and something so misunderstood kept beating around the bush

we chose not to
because we really cannot.